Kip Macsai-Goren HM ’22 and five other students were set to hike Mount Baldy Feb. 8, but their trip got off to a rocky start. When the students stopped to get gas for the college-owned van they were using for the trip before heading up Baldy, gas “sprayed out of the bottom” of the vehicle, Macsai-Goren said.
An HMC facilities and maintenance worker found that the gas tube was punctured with large holes, according to Macsai-Goren.
The worker told the students that the gas was most likely siphoned, and that the culprit ruptured the tube with an unknown object while siphoning gas, according to Macsai-Goren.
HMC spokesperson Judy Augsburger confirmed that “the gas line was tampered with.”
The incident was reported to the Claremont Police Department, The Claremont Colleges Services spokesperson Laura Muna-Landa said via email.
“We have increased patrols of the area where this occurred, and will continue to work with HMC to identify other options to mitigate the opportunity for theft,” Muna-Landa said.
The culprit remains unclear.